Finding myself much exhausted, I struck out for a man I saw on a grating. Shipmate!' said he, 'keep clear; for it 's too small for both of us. Boat ahoy!' hailing one of the English ones, 'boat ahoy! - if you have room for a spare hand, pick up this poor fellow as for me, I am doing well, and shall make the Isle of Gorgona in three hours.' Upon which he spread his neckkerchief with his teeth and hands, as a sail, and sat down on the grating, apparently at his ease.

As I was giving up hope, which in general is slow to desert me, the boat with the captain of the after-guard of the starboard watch, hauled me in, just in time to prevent me from sinking; for I had struggled with many a drowning wretch, who clutched me, as men in that state will; and, in consequence, I had imbibed a quantity of water.

I was roused from my torpid state, by the blowing up of the after-magazine, which detached the whole of the sternframe from the body of the now splendid luminary, that gave an idea of a world in conflagration. She now majestically raised her bow high in the air, with her tapering, lofty masts and submerged stern, going down gracefully in the 'deep, deep sea.' Every cry was hushed; and people held their breath, as this beautiful fabric of human creation buried itself in the waves, and. created an immense commotion in the agitated waters.

A tremendous concussion followed; and 'Stand clear!' was shouted from the overloaded boats, as the mainmast descended from the immense height to which it was blown by the grand magazine exploding under water: had it taken place above, nothing could have survived the concussion. Down it came, with a horrible crash, tearing all before it, and putting an end to the miseries of a hundred half-drowned wretches.

RULE FOR READING IMPASSIONED EXCLAMATIONS.

Expressions in the form of IMPASSIONED EXCLAMATION, SHOUTING, and COMMANDING, should always be read with the FULL FORCE of VOICE, which their character requires. The true and natural effect of vivid passages of narration and description, is often, as in the foregoing extract, dependent on the full feeling with which an exclamation is uttered. Care must be taken, however, to keep the call, or shout, or ejaculation, from undue violence and excess.

EXERCISE LXXVII.

CREATING WISDOM AND POWER.

Watts.

Eternal Wisdom! Thee we praise ;
Thee the creation sings:

With Thy loud name, rocks, hills, and seas,
And heaven's high palace rings.

Place me on the bright wings of day,

To travel with the sun,

With what amaze shall I survey

The wonders Thou hast done!

The noisy winds stand ready there

Thy orders to obey;

With sounding wing they sweep the air,

To make Thy chariot way.

There, like a trumpet, loud and strong,

Thy thunder shakes our coast:
While the red lightnings wave along,
The banners of Thy host.

On the thin air, without a prop,
Hang fruitful showers around ·
At Thy command they sink, and drop
Their fatness on the ground.

How did Thy wondrous skill array
The fields in charming green;
A thousand herbs Thy art display,
A thousand flowers between!

The rolling mountains of the deep
Observe Thy strong command;
Thy breath can raise the billows steep,
Or sink them to the sand.

Amidst Thy watery kingdoms, Lord,
The finny nations play;
And scaly monsters, at Thy word,
Rush through the northern sea.

Thy glories blaze all nature round,
And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies and seas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight.

Infinite strength, and equal skill,
Shine through the worlds abroad,
Our souls with vast amazement fill,
And speak the builder, God.

But the sweet beauties of Thy grace

Our softer passions move:—

Pity divine in Jesus' face

We see, adore, and love!

RULE FOR THE READING OF HYMNS.

The three prevailing faults in the reading of hymns, are, 1st, ▲ DRY, PROSAIC STYLE; 2d, AN EXAGGERATED, SWELLING, and UNDULATING TONE; 3d, THE MEASURED and MONOTONOUS MANNER, called SING-SONG. To avoid the FIRST of these faults,

to

the reader must enter into the SENTIMENT of the hymn, and utter the FEELING with TRUE and FULL EXPRESSION; to avoid the SECOND fault, we must advert to the petaliar PROPRIETY and becoming RESERVE of emotion, which belongs to SACRED SENTIMENT; avoid the THIRD fault, we must be attentive NOT TO LET THE VOICE DROP AT THE END OF THE SECOND LINE of a stanza, unless the SENSE is there INDEPENDENT of the remainder of the stanza, or peculiar EMPHASIS demands a falling inflection.

EXERCISE LXXVIII.

LAFAYETTE. Translated 'rom Cloquet.*

Lafayette possessed a strong and vigorous constitution, that had acquired but slowly its full development; and, notwithstanding his advanced age, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of a life passed in the midst of political commotions, and the privations and sufferings of a long captivity, enjoyed the perfect use of his intellectual faculties: he was gifted with a moral energy which elevated him above those circumstances that bend down or overwhelm most men.

Lafayete was endowed, both physically and morally, with a lively sensibility, and usually gave free vent to his agreeable impressions. Over those, on the contrary, of a sad or painful character, he exercised great control; confining them to his own bosom, from the delicate wish to spare his friends the exhibition of his sorrows or his sufferings.

He lived with great temperance and sobriety; and I have no doubt that to this regularity of life should be attributed his freedom from the infirmities of old age.

He considered time as the riches of which it is our duty to make the best use. "We have no right,' was he wont to say, to lose it ourselves, and still less, to cause the loss of it to others.'

I never saw him take part in any of the games which are resorted to for amuseinent, or, as is commonly said, to kill time. Of the country he was extremely fond; and he was in the habit, as soon as his duties or his business permitted him to quit Paris, of retiring to Lagrange, † where he truly led the life of a patriarch.

He spoke but little in the Constituent Assembly, for at this period his functions oftener required him to harangue the National Guards, or an infuriated multitude, whose passions and whose excesses he had frequently to repress or to blame. After the Restoration, his natural repugnance to speak in public, yielding to the ardent zeal that imperiously urged him to defend the interests of his country, he acquired the talent of extemporaneous speaking, which was strengthened by con-" tinual exercise, during his last visit to America, and particularly after the revolution of 1830. He prepared in writing + Lăgrûngzh.

Pronounced, Clokay.

none of the discourses which he delivered in the Chamber of Deputies. They were luminous, pertinent, and often stamped with that manly eloquence, which the sincerest patriotism kindled in him. When much interested in the matter in debate, or when the discussion concerned the general welfare of society, or the defence of the oppressed, his accents became so much the more persuasive and resistless, as his reason and his language were felt to interpret faithfully the feelings of his heart.

It would be difficult to carry patience and resignation far ther than did Lafayette, when circumstances rendered it necessary. During his last illness, he recounted to us the treatment he had undergone, for a fracture of the thigh, caused by his falling at full length on the slippery pavement. Two eminent surgeons had been called in, to give him their attendance. The fractured limb was inclosed in an apparatus for continual extension; and as Lafayette had promised his surgeons to support the pain patiently as long as they should think proper, he uttered not a single complaint, for the fifteen or twenty days that the first application of the apparatus lasted. Upon its being removed, his surgeons could not dissemble their feelings, on seeing the frightful disorder which the extending ligatures had caused. The stoical fortitude of Lafayette had really baffled the vigilance of his surgeons; and his lameness, together with the deep scars, bore ample testimony of the truth of what he related to us.

I doubt if Lafayette were ever angry, or, at least, I do not recollect to have seen him give way to this passion in circumstances well calculated to excite, and, at the same time, justify, those violent movements of the soul, that few men can master. When any thing particularly vexed him, he experienced a slight contraction of the forehead and eyebrows, became taciturn; and an expression of sadness clouded his features. These moments of irritation, however, rather than of bad humor, lasted but a little while; and his physiognomy soon resumed its serenity.

even when relating

In the most familiar conversation, anecdotes which seemed to warrant such a liberty, I never heard him employ an improper or low expression. He did this from a natural feeling of modesty, fortified by his education, and by the practices of a pure life. Several of his old friends have assured me, that, when a soldier, they never